Which one should you use?
While eso huele bien can be used for an abstract or unspecified thing, you should use eso huele rico to sound more natural and enthusiastic when talking about food or pleasant scents in many Latin American dialects. Additionally, huele rico is a very common way to say something smells good, particularly when referring to food in many Spanish-speaking countries, especially in Latin America.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Argentina, you may hear the informal expression qué rico olor to say something smells good. In Argentina, the word perfumado/a is also frequently used to refer to a good smell, such as in the phrase está todo perfumado to mean "it all smells good."
How does it change in a sentence?
In the phrase eso huele bien, the word huele is the third-person singular conjugation of the verb oler (to smell).
How do you pronounce it?
/eso wele bjen/
Did you know?
- The word bien in the phrase eso huele bien shares an ancient ancestor with the Latin word 'bonus'. This means that the concept of 'well' and 'good' are deeply linked through history in both languages.
- The verb oler is an irregular stem-changing verb where the 'o' changes to 'ue' in the present tense, meaning the root of the word physically shifts when you say huele.
- In Argentina, saying está todo perfumado can describe an entire environment, such as a clean house, rather than just a specific object that smells good.
Examples in context
- ¡Qué rico huele ese pan recién horneado!That freshly baked bread smells great!
- Mmm, huele bien, ¿qué hay en la olla?Mmm, it smells good, what's in the pot?
- ¡Qué rico huele!How good that smells!
- Eso huele bien.That smells good.
- ¡Mira, eso huele bien!Look, that smells good!
- Creo que eso huele bien.I think that smells good.
Example conversation
Daniel and Sofía are in the kitchen while cooking.
- Daniel¿Qué estás cocinando, Sofía?What are you cooking, Sofía?
- SofíaEs una sopa de verduras.It is a vegetable soup.
- Daniel¡Qué rico! Eso huele bien.How delicious! That smells good.
- SofíaGracias, Daniel.Thanks, Daniel.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries bien, eso, CC BY-SA 4.0.
